Sevak Torosyan, a French-Armenian lawyer involved in Robert Kocharyan’s case, told reporters that Robert Kocharyan’s trial depends on Nikol Pashinyan’s will. He spoke at the Hayeli club and said that the entire trial is dependent on the will of one person. “Robert Kocharyan’s trial is dependent on a political figure who is not a judge, but the Prime Minister of Armenia. There are no guarantees. Davit Grigoryan’s description is what all judges are thinking about. Who will try to hold a trial and make an independent decision that will not coincide with what the Prime Minister wants? There are three things on their minds: investigations, criminal cases, and dismissals. All judges in Armenia are praying so that they won’t have to work on large cases. There is freedom when working on smaller cases. I have heard many great things. But I believe that judges are praying so that they don’t have to work on serious cases that involve former enemies of the Prime Minister.” Torosyan noted that a war among judges needs to begin in order for the process of establishing an independent judiciary to begin.
The lawyer said that the President of France Emmanuel Macron even responded to his letter and expressed his opinion on Robert Kocharyan’s trial. Sevak Torosyan said that everyone outside of Armenia believes that there is independence when it comes to smaller criminal cases in Armenia, but everything needs to be authorized when it comes to larger cases.
When asked if he agrees that there should be expectations placed on the ECHR for Robert Kocharyan’s case, the lawyer said, “Until we have some guarantees that the judges will be independent, we cannot have any expectations.”
According to the lawyer, it is inhumane to burden one judge with the entirety of Robert Kocharyan’s case. There need to be at least three judges.
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Tatev Harutyunyan
